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October 1-5, 2001Greetings from Global Policy Forum!
Afghanistan's Terrible Fate
For days, diplomats and NGOs at the UN have been wondering when the United States would launch its military strike and what form such a strike would take. The high state of security in New York City and at UN headquarters symbolized this tense waiting period. Huge orange trucks filled with sand continued to block off access to the avenue and streets immediately outside the UN complex, while police barricades blocked traffic from many side streets in the neighborhood. Nearly everyone feared that the superpower would rain destruction on the already devastated land of Afghanistan, setting off unknown and dangerous consequences. On Sunday, October 7, the military campaign finally began and many continued to wonder where this war will lead and what it will mean for humankind.
Human rights advocates have been asking whether the US "war" on terrorism will be respectful of human rights and humanitarian law. Already, according to press reports, more than one million Afghans have taken flight and as many as 2-3 million refugees are expected in the coming days. Humanitarian agencies have withdrawn their foreign personnel, but hundreds of Afghan personnel continue to provide relief under almost impossible conditions of famine, destruction, and continuing civil war.
GPF Coverage of the WTC Crisis
At GPF, we continued to build our web-based information on the World Trade Center crisis. This week, we added thirty new crisis-related postings and totally re-organized the section, in order to offer a more user-friendly environment. This week, the site as a whole attracted 220,000 hits, a new record.
We are looking for dissenting, unusual and critical perspectives on the crisis, as well as information on the responses at the UN. We will continue to look beyond the official spin doctors in an effort to understand the events and to place them in a wide context. We welcome your comments and suggestions.
Security Council Resolution 1373
In September 28, under the leadership of the French president of the Council, Ambassador Jean-David Levitte, the Security Council adopted a long and complex resolution on the WTC crisis that calls for action against international terrorism.
The resolution proposes many types of action, including cooperation to stop money laundering that aids terrorist groups and joint action to prevent terrorism as a whole. Many delegations felt that this resolution put the Council on stronger legal ground and gave it a much larger role in the crisis than the earlier Resolution 1368, a resolution that in its brevity appeared to give a blank check to Washington. Among other things, the resolution might act as a check on the United States itself in cases where Washington might be supporting or want in future to support terrorist groups.
But those who read the resolution carefully have expressed concern that its language is vague and that can provide a legal cover for domestic repression of opposition groups, even those that are non-violent. Amnesty International issued a press release on Thursday, October 4, warning that human rights worldwide are under threat as a result of hasty reactions to the September 11th attacks. "In Europe and elsewhere," said Amnesty, "governments are rushing to the top of their political agendas laws that threaten to curb civil liberties and possibly reduce safeguards against abuses of human rights." Such moves are particularly evident in the United States.
NGO Activity and Access at the UN
The UN itself has opted for security over liberty, keeping NGOs shut out of headquarters for four weeks. On Friday October 5, the office of Assistant Secretary General Gillian Martin Sorensen informed the Conference of NGOs that access would be restored to more or less normal status on Tuesday October 9. This was very welcome news, but it remains to be seen in the wake of the US bombing just when and how it will be implemented.
Here are the links to GPF web site postings for this week . . .
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